Ready for Masters Nationals

As you can tell from the lack of posts this summer, I haven’t been doing much traditional CrossFit – only rowing in preparation for USRowing Masters Nationals, which is the “big game” for rowers my age. I have followed a training model that is more like CrossFit Endurance than the traditional rowing model, so we’ll see if that pays off. Multiple short sessions focusing on sprint training vs. long steady-state. The main difference has been in my emphasis on on-water skills vs. pure fitness/strength. We’ll see if it worked – the racing starts tomorrow on the Cooper River in Camden, NJ. It’s a lot of volume with heats, semis, and finals, so that’s where the CrossFit base will hopefully pay off.

If anyone else is going to be there, shoot me a note and let me know what club you are with and when you are competing, and I’ll try to meet you in person.

What’s my competition food plan? Most of the time it’s impossible to eat a real meal at these events, so it’s a hodgepodge of snack-size food that doesn’t need to be refrigerated and I can keep in a cooler.

Breakfast: hard boiled eggs, turkey bacon, carrots

Beet juice concentrate

Coco Libre + protein

Strong coffee

Gallons of plain water

Hammer gel for immediately after races

Bananas, apples, and grapefruit

Organic turkey “slim jims” – usually need some solid, salty protein to balance out the liquids and fruit

Whole foods good morning muffins – mostly oil, carrots, and eggs – when I need something with some fat in it for staying power that won’t upset my stomach.

These are not the dietary choices I’d make every day, but they are good “game day” options for a stomach full of butterflies

My equipment will be:

Hudson elite single, 31.5 lbs., stern mounted wing rigger

Croker S4 superlight oars

NK SpeedCoach GPS, although I generally don’t look at it during a race.